Tag Archives: Jordan

Longtime science teacher Steve Saracino retired in December this year after a total of 41 years teaching, with the past 17 years working with the sixth, seventh and eighth-graders at David Starr Jordan Middle School. In the years at Jordan, Saracino has not just taught science, but has been deeply involved in arts programs at the school as well. Many celebrations of the beloved teacher were held in the final months of his tenure at Jordan, including student-organized lunches, a honored spotlight at the Jordan Choir’s holiday show and a recognition by the Jordan PTA for his years of service and dedication to the students and the school.

Song and video tribute for Steve Saracino at Jordan VMA’s holiday show in December 2013. (Photo By Ross A. Benson)

“Part of my success as a teacher is trying to understand your kids at ages 11, 12 and 13,” Saracino told the PTA members, parents and school administrators at the November meeting at which he spoke about his time at Jordan.

“One of the reasons I am so effective with kids this age is that I’ve had a wide variety of experiences which includes being a teacher on special assignment with gang and drug intervention,” Saracino explained further, in an interview on his final day at the school, December 20. He spoke about his previous work in the early-mid 1990s at Garfield Continuation High School in San Diego. “Every other Monday, I got a group of gangsters, basically, who got thrown out of other schools for narcotics and weapons problems, and I had to talk with them and work with them.”

“I’ve taught many different classes… eighth grade science my first year in New Jersey, then I moved to Kansas and taught high school Biology, Earth Science, Chemistry, Physical Science and Psychology. And I think the variety of experiences I’ve had has kept me open to people in general. I treat students as people, rather than as students, and I think that’s key.”

Saracino’s humor and rational approach to sensitive topics was important as he taught the district’s human development/sex ed curriculum as part of seventh-grade science class. “It’s a very fine line. I don’t want it to be a deep dark secret that they’re afraid of and then make up stories about this stuff,” he commented. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there and it comes from not giving kids the truth, not having the facts. It’s a fine line to present it. So I try to make it accessible by combining serious information with humor and everything I taught was district-approved.”

Steve Saracino waves to the parents, students and audience at the December Jordan VMA show. (Photo By Ross A. Benson)

“Mr. Saracino was an amazing teacher. He not only taught science but supported the arts and many other programs around the campus,” eighth-grader Sela Moretti-Hitchcock commented. “He was the best teacher around and he was funny, always happy, and really supportive. So, as a brilliant teacher deserves, a few friends and I decided to throw a party for him. Two actually.”

“Because of him, I not only have more friends but more self esteem and more confidence to try new things. He was one of the best teachers I have ever had or probably will ever have. Jordan Middle School won’t be the same without him. I— and my friends and teachers— will miss him greatly teaching at our school.”

That connection with Jordan students also translated into a strong connection with their parents.

“I have taught in New Jersey, Kansas, many schools in San Diego, and Burbank parents are just amazingly great. These kids, of course they have problems here and there and they go through their middle school angst and their high school angst, but the parents in this community… I’ve never felt more supported,” Saracino commented. “When I’ve called a parent and explained rationally what’s going on with a child, they were 100% supportive. I’ve had a lot of parent interactions in 17 years here and Burbank has such great parents – thank you for raising your kids so well. And they’re such great kids as they are.”

Saracino has taught several thousand children over his time at Jordan, with an average of 160 students per year in his academic classes. When the school had the seventh period extracurricular class and Saracino led the theater program at the school, he worked with an additional 150 young people per year. As Director of the Jordan Theater Company for various productions between 2002 – 2009, he presented many popular shows at the school including Fiddler on the Roof, Guys and Dolls and The King and I.

Saracino continues to plays guitar and piano. His Christian rock band Broken Bread is working on their second album, due in April 2014, and planning a concert tour starting in April. He is also very involved in his church as a lector.

Photo Courtesy of Steve Saracino

As a master of several dialects with a host of interests, including a love of the stage, Saracino intends to step back into the theater spotlight with acting and writing. He also looks forward to finishing a book he’s been working on and developing a television show about musicians.

Although Saracino has retired from teaching, that doesn’t mean he’ll be slowing down or leaving Burbank behind. In fact, he plans to step up his involvement in arts-related programs, including developing a series of national workshops for show choirs with Jordan Choir Director Christine DeMore, Burroughs High School Choir Director Brendan Jennings and Burroughs choreographer Jen Oundjian among others. Saracino also plans to work with Burbank Arts For All foundation, on the encouragement of BAFA Community Outreach Director Suzanne Weerts.

“I’m never going to give up helping people and helping kids. It’s just in me,” Saracino added. “Burbank is just a beautiful town. When I came up here in June of 1997 to interview – I was just so impressed with the friendliness of people up here and the cleanliness of the town. They really cared about our youth. People here in Burbank are just wonderful people.”

“My daughter grew up in this community. When we moved here, she was in kindergarten. She graduated from Burroughs in 2009,” Saracino concluded. “I love Burbank, it’s where my daughter grew up, and we had great times here and will continue to have great times here. I love the town.”

Jordan Middle School will be hosting a Community Information Night on March 28, to inform community members about its “STOP-IT” campaign aimed at creating a positive school culture and halting the spread of bullying on campuses in the Burbank Unified School District and beyond.

The meeting, which starts at 6 p.m. Wednesday evening, will take place in the school’s library. All local community members are welcomed and encouraged to attend. The school is located at 420 S. Mariposa St.

“STOP-IT,” which stands for “stop teasing, offending, pushing, intimidating today” was created by the school’s new Assistant Principal of Discipline Leonidas Tarca, who was previously an administrator in the Simi Valley Unified School District.

Some traditions continued as new ones were born when the three middle schools opened the gates of the new Memorial Field Saturday, March 10 for their annual Tri-School Track Meet.

Muir's Cade Hollingsworth finshes the 400 meter in record time of 57.4 a meet record. (Photo by Ross A. Benson)

John Muir Middle School won the meet for the 10th time in 11 years in the first ever sporting event at the new Memorial Field. After the event some members of the public stuck around to set foot on the surface of the new field for the first time.

The Mustangs scored a total of 493.5 points, topping Luther (410.5) and Jordan (312) for bragging rights in the city for another year.

“Once again we are proud of the kids at Muir” Mustangs’ Coach Doug Nicol said, “But more than anything else we are proud to be able to be able to bring all of the kids together for an event like this in the new stadium.”

Muir's Brandon Alba jumps 13.1 feet ion the long jump during Burbank's All City Track Meet.(Photo by Ross A. Benson)

The three middle schools renewed the longstanding tradition in 2001 after a hiatus since 1984, when the sites had been 7th through 9th grade and were still junior highs. Many Physical Education teachers at the middle schools are former Burbank Unified School District alumni and were thrilled to bring the event back eleven years ago.

“We have memories of it and wanted our students to have the same type of memories,” said Branko Sevic, also a PE coach at Muir.

Muir placed first in the overall boys’ totals with a mark of 272.5 and the overall girls’ totals with a mark of 221. Luther finished second in both areas with scores of 194.5 and 216. Muir also won both the boys and girls for both the 7th and 8thgrades while Luther placed first for both the boys and girls results in the 6th grade.

Jordan’s Elizabeth Switzer was the 6th grade girls’ MVP finishing second in the 4×100 relay and the long jump and second in the 60 and 100 meter dash. Luther’sJacob Calderon won the 6th grade boys’ MVP taking first in four events – the 60M, 400M, the 4×100 relay and the 4×400 relay. The performance in the 400M (65.40) was a meet record as was his team’s 4×400 relay performance ( 4:47).Drew Gorsuch, Christian Valles and Alex Carvajal were his teammates in the later.

Muir’s Khalid Taylor and Jordan’s Izzy Funes with the MVPs of the 7th grade – each set three records on the day. Taylor won the 60 M, 100 M, 4×100 relay (with John Atherton, Dillon Rosen and Joey Miller) and finished second in the hurdles. Funes won the 400M, the long jump and the 100M. She also was a part of the Cougars’ 4×400 relay team alongside Dominique Silva, Emma Bartam and Bella Nava.

Muir’s 8th grade tandem of Josh Cantong and Candela Fernandez were MVPs for the Mustangs – each took first place in three events. Cantong won the 800M, 4×400 relay, 4×100 relay and finished second in the 400M race. Fernandez won the 800M, 400<, 4×400 relay and the 100M. Cantong’s record setting teammates in the 4×400 included Niko Guerrero, Connor Garden and Adam Navar with a time of 4:08.7. Fernandez was joined by Paige Pauff, Dalia Farazdaghi and Erin McGuire in the 4×400 relay. She also broke a record in the 800M with a time of 2:44.

Middle School teams from Luther and Jordan traveled to Muir for the games held on Wednesday (Photo By Steven J. Lynch)

On Wednesday, John Muir Middle School hosted the Tri-School Boys and Girls Basketball tournament. The tournament is played between the three middle schools in the district, Luther Burbank, Jordan, and Muir. Each school has two boys teams and two girls teams, with teams playing the entire day to decide who has the best basketball teams in the city. This year, Luther Burbank dominated the boys division as the Yellowjackets had both of their teams play in the championship game, giving Luther Burbank the Boys championship. In the girls division, Jordan won an exciting championship game by beating Luther Burbank by three points. It was an incredibly successful day and all of the student-athletes who participated should be proud of their efforts.

(above) The championship girls team from Jordan Middle School, and the Boy's team from Luther Burbank both were crowned champions (below) at the Tri-City meet. (Photos By Steven J. Lynch)